Well-designed oil spill contingency plans can not only facilitate oil spill response efforts, but also enhance those efforts by protecting sensitive habitats, circumventing unnecessary clean-up costs and minimizing danger to clean-up personnel. However, it is difficult to develop and/or optimize an effective contingency plan without using a crude oil or crude oil simulant as the test media. Similarly, the evaluation of oil spill response techniques, including personnel and equipment, requires the use of a fluid that behaves as a crude oil.
Several researchers have used a variety of materials to track crude oil movement to determine baseline response and equipment deployment strategies in accordance with local or facility contingency plans. Tracking buoy materials used include: cottonseed hulls, oranges and lemons, Styrofoam, plywood floats, marine fenders, tires and wood chips. Although these materials adequately track crude oil, their usefulness is limited to an existing oil spill. In addition, these materials do not adequately represent actual crude oil behavior. Other researchers have examined the use of canola oil as a crude oil simulant. However, canola oil is difficult to track and does not effectively represent crude oil behavior. Further, researchers have attempted to create computer models based on molecular dynamics (PVT models) and Monte Carlo simulations to approximate oil spill behavior. However, these models have limitations regarding computer speed and accurate representation of actual behavior. Therefore, improved materials and methods for simulating oil spills continues to be sought and would represent an advancement in the industry.